Propane anyone??

[broncoman1972]

I am in the process of swapping a 300 into my EB and have pretty much decided on efi, but with fuel prices jumping again I am again wondering about alternative fuels. Does anyone here have experience running only propane (as opposed to dual fuel) on any of their vehicles?? I still may consider this. At least until I commit by setting up my fuel system....

 

[Broncoman]

look up the memeber 66gasgrill
or click here:
http://www.classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81582&highlight=propane

 

[classic4x4s]

More changes in the works? Cool idea though...

 

[XT700]

Also see recent issue of Bronco Driver, good article on 66gasgrill's Bronco. He seems real pleased with his system.

 

[66Gasgrill]

Hi,
Yeah I have been extremely pleased with my propane set up. Give me a hollar if I can be of asisstance. Big Block 6cyls. in EBs are cool, propane or not....;D ;D ;D

 

[Jangel]

I've got my propane setup installed and almost ready to start. I'll let you know how it goes!!

 

[Solar Aviator]

I might play around and see if it is feasible to monitor the fuel injector pulses on an EFI to modulate a propane metering valve to come up with a dual fuel alternative. Anyone know if something like this already exists? I have considered building up a system with a high pressure pump and tanks in the vehicle. You would just plug it into the natural gas from your house and let it slowly pump up the tanks over night. I'm sure there are about a million people out there that would tell you that it is illegal and you will blow yourself up!

 

[broncoman1972]

Thanks for all of the replies. Yeah, I can't get anything done because I have too many projects and keep changing my mind about what I'm gonna do. 66gassgrill I agree, big block sixes are very cool. I probably will be in touch to talk about your conversion. I did see the article by the way... Nice!!

 

[Gummi Bear]

I might play around and see if it is feasible to monitor the fuel injector pulses on an EFI to modulate a propane metering valve to come up with a dual fuel alternative. Anyone know if something like this already exists? I have considered building up a system with a high pressure pump and tanks in the vehicle. You would just plug it into the natural gas from your house and let it slowly pump up the tanks over night. I'm sure there are about a million people out there that would tell you that it is illegal and you will blow yourself up!

LP/Gasoline dual fuel setups are out there. A good friend of mine just sold his 94 F150 that had that setup. It worked perfectly. He ran it 90% of the time on LP.

There are dual fuel LP/Natural gas setups out there, I just had a job with a genset that was a 5.4L Ford engine and LP/NG setup. I suppose that you could go to a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station (there are a few around) I'm not sure that the local gas company would be real cool with you doing it at home.;D

 

[swa0330]

Not to rob this post, but isn't propane sort of subject to go way up also. Someone (I could be wrong) told me that propane had increased 300% in cost in the last 10 years. That could be wrong, but I know that it is about $2.15 a gallon or so.

http://www.azurebiodiesel.com/index.shtml

That setup brings me reassurance that one day I won't be affected by the oil tycoons need for bigger private islands. In america I can tell you there will never be a shortage of used frier oil as long as McDonald's and wing joints still exist.

Not trying to hijack anything, just find it interesting to talk a lot about different conversions. I always appreciate anyone who has the ambition to do something besides another EFI 302.

 

[BoltBuster]

Hi,
Yeah I have been extremely pleased with my propane set up. Give me a hollar if I can be of asisstance. Big Block 6cyls. in EBs are cool, propane or not....;D ;D ;D

Man loved the article thinking seriously about doing it to the next project, do you have diagrams of how you done it and the materials used??

 

[evil69]

Here ya go. JJ is a cool cat and has some great info and links.

http://www.patooyee.com/

 

[bax]

Propane sounds good, I just got off the phone talking to a guy at www.gotpropane.com Very good talk and a really nice guy. Check the site out and read the FAQ's, lots of info. I am looking at a tank to fit under the EB so it will be a bolt in with a remote fill. I am also checking with the local dealers to see how this would work. (fill up wise) I think it is worth a look. No carb sloshing around and no EFI needed, and it works at all angles. It also has an octane rating of around 100 to 110. Question, with a high compresion engine will propane out perform pump gas? The answer I got was yes.

Bax

 

[broncoman1972]

Not trying to hijack anything, just find it interesting to talk a lot about different conversions. I always appreciate anyone who has the ambition to do something besides another EFI 302.

I feel the same way brother. I decided to o something different by going with the 300 and I considered the 4bt. I guess until I bolt something in anything is still possible. I kind of wanted other peoples input about any alternatives not just propane.

I work at a Ford dealer and we service newer dual fuel setups for a couple of companies. Mostly CNG but some LP vehicles. Even fewer LP only vehicles. They are way too computerized than anything I would want. The compuvalves come from Canada and cost around $1200!! I figure I would prefer LP only if I do it.

Funny thing about the biodiesel link. Our safety guy was in today and he has started selling a biodiesel setup. I am not sure what brand, but it looked pretty nice. I think he said it was about $3000 for everything you need to start. That's a hety investment, but I can see it being worthwhile in the long run.

Keep the input coming!

 

[66Gasgrill]

Man loved the article thinking seriously about doing it to the next project, do you have diagrams of how you done it and the materials used??

Thnx. I do not have any diagrams, however it is a very simple set-up. (1) 8-10 gal. fork lift tank,roughly 33lbs. (2) propane carb, specific to the size engine. Works the same as carbs, bigger motor bigger carb (sorta). (3) Backflow preventer (self explanitory) (4) propane regulator, converts propane from liquid to gas. (5) fittings and hoses to connect everything. It is hte same set up as 90% of the forklifts out there.simple and reliable.

 

[66Gasgrill]

Funny thing about the biodiesel link. Our safety guy was in today and he has started selling a biodiesel setup. I am not sure what brand, but it looked pretty nice. I think he said it was about $3000 for everything you need to start. That's a hety investment, but I can see it being worthwhile in the long run.

Keep the input coming!

Biodiesel is ultra cool past the inital investment. it is cheap to make, easily made and suppossidly runs excilent. wish I had $3000.00

 

[Solar Aviator]

Did a little research this morning. The local price is running about $2.50/gal for propane for road and RV use.

91,000 BTU / Gal. for Propane. 125,000 BTU / Gal. for Gasoline. 139,000 BTU / Gal. Diesle. These numbers should reflect the relative MPG that can be expected.

Could the guys running propane chime in the the MPG that they are actually getting.

 

[66Gasgrill]

I havent been able to get a good number on milage. My speedometer is not acurate and I use a 8gal. fork lift tank which doesn't have a very acurate gauge. I just swap out tanks when needed.

With that said; I can run a full day to a day and a half on the trails on one tank. Mine gets about the same mileage as it did on gasoline maybe just alittle better HTH;D

 

[BoltBuster]

Thnx. I do not have any diagrams, however it is a very simple set-up. (1) 8-10 gal. fork lift tank,roughly 33lbs. (2) propane carb, specific to the size engine. Works the same as carbs, bigger motor bigger carb (sorta). (3) Backflow preventer (self explanitory) (4) propane regulator, converts propane from liquid to gas. (5) fittings and hoses to connect everything. It is hte same set up as 90% of the forklifts out there.simple and reliable.

Thanks for the tips and links they were great. where would a place to start looking for a forkift tank and usable carb and adapters? got pics and who makes them?

 

[66Gasgrill]

Thanks for the tips and links they were great. where would a place to start looking for a forkift tank and usable carb and adapters? got pics and who makes them?

No prob. I got my tanks from a local welding shop. If I remeber right I think they were about $100.00 ea. Since I own the tanks I just swap them out for full ones. Works the same a any cylinder swap program, ie. cutting tourch bottles ect. The rest of my convertion parts were all made by IMPCO [http://www.impco.ws// also check out http://www.gotpropane.com/ or www.propaneguy.com/. YOu should beable to find what you are looking for there. I got all of my stuff though a local fork lift place before I found these guys.